I have three tanks. I know I have Ich in one tank, and I am afraid I have Ich in a second. I had ordered several fish online, and although I contacted the breeder when I discovered the ich asking them to hold my order, they apparently didn't get the message and sent the fish anyway. So Friday I received an order containing 17 small fish, (10 green fire tetras, 7 SAEs) which should have been distributed among the three different tanks. I had no choice and had to put them all into my 29 gallon tank. Fortunately, it was understocked with only 10 fish since I hadn't decided what to keep with my aggressive serpae tetras.
However, as I am sure you can guess, my previously perfect ammonia and nitrite levels have gone up. My ammonia levels look just under .25, but my nitrite levels look like about .2 . I did about a 30% water change on Satuday and a 35% one yesterday, I plan to do another big one today, and I added Nitro-bac, but is there anything else I can do to help?
2007-06-11 05:53:52 · 6 answers · asked by Golden Rose 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
I just realized I didn't explain very well. I put the new fish in the tank that I don't _think_ has ich. So this isn't a tank with known or suspected ich, it is just overcrowded. I am hoping to avoid moving out the SAEs until the ich is gone from the other tanks.
I am not opposed to buying new tanks to help; I actually was seriously considering it. But we come back to the problem of having to fast cycle a tank with limited seed material since two tanks may have ich and one tank is overcrowded and unhappy...
2007-06-11 06:14:49 · update #1
It sounds like you are handling things quite well. You may need additional water changes though to help hold the ammonia and nitrite down for a few more days. Instead of one large change, I would suggest 2 changes of 25-30% several horus apart. This will smooth out the transition from ammopnia filled water to clean.
The only additional things athat might help would be to stop feeding, or at least cut down on the feeding for a few days and also drop the temperature foe a few days. THat certainly won't help you fight the ich, but it will help the ammonia toxicity. After a few days you can push the temperature back up for the ich treatment.
MM
2007-06-11 06:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you can get a larger tank than the one they're in and move most of the fish, gravel, fileter, etc. to the larger tank, at least the bacteria you've got will help establish the population in the new tank. You can leave a little gravel and an airpump/small filter on that one to spread the fish out. At the very least, you've got bacteria in both tanks, and the ammonia is diluted by the extra water volume. Depending on the tank temperatures, if you raise them a little, it sppeds up the reproduction and may shorten the cycling time a little.
Beyond that, keep an eye on the water tests and do changes as needed.
As far as the ich tanks, turning up the temperature on these will speed up the life cycle of the parasite so they drop off into the water that much faster so they can be killed. A temp of 86o will prevent them from reproducing and 92o will kill them. Just adjust your temperature slowly so your fish can adjust and maybe add a little extra aeration to make up for the decrease in dissolved oxygen from the warmer water. Treat at least 3-5 days after you see the last spots on the fish - any sooner and you may be risking reinfection.
Also be careful when cleaning and transferring nets, siphons, and such between tanks - any water from an infected tank can introduce the parasites into one that's not infected. Clean equipment between each tank!
2007-06-11 19:31:35 · answer #2 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Something similar happened to me before, and what I did was went out and bought some live plants and doubled on the filtration, so get a filter for a 55 gallon. That seemed to help the best. Sounds like your a good fish owner!!!!
2007-06-11 13:31:38 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Daily water changes. Treat the water for chloramine BEFORE adding it to the tank. It sounds as though some damage to the bacteria colony is being done at water change time. Keep the water change amount down to 20% or less.
2007-06-11 13:02:53 · answer #4 · answered by PeeTee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as i'm sure youre aware, ich is caused by stress, thus overcrowding a tank only increases stress
2007-06-11 12:57:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
10 gallon tanks don't really cost that much, could you grab one or two 10 gallon tanks and set them up temporarily?
Then you could keep one for future problems and sell one on eBay or craigslist.
Good luck! :)
2007-06-11 12:59:56 · answer #6 · answered by searching_please 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋